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'The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up' by Marie Kondo is a home organisation/ decluttering book like no other. Instead of looking for things to discard, Marie Kondo says we should instead look for things we wish to keep - using the 'does it spark joy?' method. Ultimately this means that everything in our homes should spark joy for us You might not think that everyday and seemingly mundane items can't spark joy - but you need to think around it a little. So whilst an iron may not spark joy, wearing ironed clothes may. A cheese grater may not spark joy, but your child may really like grated cheese in their wraps - which brings joy.

Marie Kondo also says that this should be done quickly and properly. This may take six months to achieve, but tidying properly should mean doing it just once. This is against the often-seen decluttering advice of doing 15 minutes a day, or a drawer/ shelf a day.

MK suggests an order as to what to sort through first and subsequently. This is important - she starts with items which many people do not have an emotional attachment to (clothes) and builds up to sentimental items (photos) so that a person's joy-meter can be developed along the way.

Many MSE-ers have been following the KM method (kondo-ing) successfully. It fits into the MSE ethos by changing your mindse - you will no longer want to shop mindlessly for something 'just because' or 'it'll do' - you will want to buy only joyful items, thereby often saving ££ on random, impulse purchases.

MaryB - if you clean & sand off the rust and then re-spray it with radiator paint it will probably last another 30 years! I was given a bow fronted fridge when I was a single Mum - it lasted me quite a few years and was then passed on to the local scouts group. It must have been knocking on for 30 years old when I had it!!
I was born 10 months after WW2 so the hanging on to stuff for Justin has been very hard to break but I'm certainly getting there - electric carving knife, a can opener and a slicer packed to go to CS
GQ - sad to say a timewaster on Freecycle but may have another one interested - fingers crossed.

Small victories - sometimes they are all you can hope for but sometimes they are all you need - be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle

Eirlys, yes I think you are the oldest. I was a post war baby when there was still rationing, when my mother ironed wrapping paper to re-use it. One dress to wear and one for best and one pair of shoes for all weathers. I think this has been my problem too, that ingrained need to have a full wardrobe. Mine is still too full and I have enjpyed the process of making lovely clothes and buying gorgeous fabric but I have stopped

I'm a wee bit behind you guys but we also used to carefully unwrap birthday and xmas presents and the paper was kept to be ironed and re-used. Plus we had a cardboard advent calendar that my bothers and I had to open but not tear-off the perforated doors and it came out so many years we could almost remember the pictures behind each day. They no longer shut properly after about 6 years so it was hard to know which were open and which were closed. Lol, todays youngsters with their three layers of card and formed plastic plus wrapped chocolates dont know they are born. Such a lot to be thrown away after xmas and seeing a wee pic of a dolly or balloons or a teddy was many times more exciting than eating some rubbishy tasting chocolate at half 7 in the morning !! Happy days

daisy xx

"Never save something for a special occasion. Every day in your life is a special occasion" Take hold of every moment by anon

The difference between what you were yesterday and what you will be tomorrow is what you do today

A "side hustle" for the family of jewellery makers in birmingham was to clean out the old man's turnups on a nightly basis. Over the year, the tiniest pieces of gold swarf would build up and form a Christmas bonus when cashed in. I can recommend the Jewellery Museum if you're ever in Brum. http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/jewellery

Last edited by short_bird; 14-09-2017 at 12:16 PM.

Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas.

Umm, you mean there are people out there NOW who don't save, iron and re-use wrapping paper?! Oops, and there's me, a mid-sixties vintage peep, who does such things, I always tell folks I was thrifty before it was fashionable.

Am in process of bottoming-out the kitchen cupboards (a rainy morning here) and have decided that one tray can go to the CS, will take it up in a few minutes before I change my mind.

I have one humungous tray, three small plastic trays which fit in the freezer and a metal 1950s tea tray with a parisian (I think) street scene on it which is built like a tank and will see me out. I also have two of those oblong little trays which I thought would be handier than they are (actually, as I'm typing, I have decided they can go to the chazzer today as well, they came from chazzers anyway, one shouldn't be too big to admit one's mistakes).

This will leave me with the 1950s tray which is in daily use, the round stainless steel tea tray (in constant use, lol), the giant tray which is invaluable for various projects and the three plastic trays which are used for batch freezing, taking baked goods to t'office and various little projects.

All of this was triggered by getting the trays off the floor and making space for them in the cupboard (after washing them nicely) and realising the moulded melamine tray wouldn't fit but the plastics will. It it the survivor of a pair bought for me by Mum when I lived at my previous flat and I've had it well over 15 years but, if I can do without it, I rid myself of a niggly item which hasn't a home of its own.

Onwards!

Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.John RuskinVeni, vidi, eradici(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)

Landfill mining has been going on since the 1950s... but there will definitely be more of it!

I've been very good, and on my last work trip (which I'm still trying to get back from - thanks for the travel disruption Irma - but obviously very grateful this is my biggest problem) took stuff I love but was past its best. When I packed, I left behind running socks, a dress, a t-shirt and knickers that I should no longer wear (most of them had holes...). I did buy more running kit in the vast mall opposite the hotel, but it was needed and a bargain. As a result I was able to repack into less space and leave behind the very tatty handbag as planned...

A "side hustle" for the family of jewellery makers in birmingham was to clean out the old man's turnups on a nightly basis. Over the year, the tiniest pieces of gold swarf would build up and form a Christmas bonus when cashed in. I can recommend the Jewellery Museum if you're ever in Brum. http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/jewellery

Nowadays all the metal companies weigh all staff & visitors on their way in and on their way out... They generally all have very soft wax floors so any waste, dwarf, filings etc get squished in, then every so often the floor is scraped up, melted down and the metals recovered

My local national trust is in need of books.Just taken a bag of them. They have a lovely little second hand book room all done out like a library.
My local library also wants books as they have had their funding cut and what they dont need they sell. Their bag will go at weekend.
Deep joy to donate to somewhere who has a need for my items

not me picklepot, my local hospice are crying out for funds and the voluntary unpaid workers work their cotton socks off, its the least I can do, to support them. The hospice is there for people in their hour of greatest need

GQ I so agree with you about waste and how lovely it is to use things completely up.

I saw something on Facebook recently though that really resonated. It was a Buddhist quotation about how no one becomes poor by giving things away and goodness knows, there are lots of people in need these days.

Decluttering can give you a "hit" of feeling wasteful, but it can lead to such a lack of it moving forward. If you have only a few things, all of which you love, it is easier to use their full capacity.

I tried to draw a line, accept that I had previously wasted my own cash and used too many things, but now I will give myself a fresh start and try to be better in future.

I saw Fumio Sasaki's video (done when his book launched) yesterday. I was SO inspired.

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

Thought i'd pop in. Now that school is back I am getting into my routine. Work has not really picked up yet but I have landed myself a 3 day a week job and should be able to continue doing my other one on the two days. The 3 day one should in essence pay the bills. The other to KD all the bills/debts and then be used for treats. I am so happy, well I will be once I get my first pay!

Been KDing the weeds up at the allotment and then covering. I have a lot to do as only had it six months and it was a mess. I have half done a plan of the areas where I know what i want to put where but just not had the time to get up.

House wise. Another Ebay of car boot job lot gone so am now tidying/cleaning. My next job is to put up the new washing line as the other snapped!!

After years of debt and living on the breadline feeling nothing but negative about my finances, I am finally feeling that 2018 might be the year I open a savings account and actually use it!

Nowadays all the metal companies weigh all staff & visitors on their way in and on their way out... They generally all have very soft wax floors so any waste, dwarf, filings etc get squished in, then every so often the floor is scraped up, melted down and the metals recovered

Nowadays all the metal companies weigh all staff & visitors on their way in and on their way out... They generally all have very soft wax floors so any waste, dwarf, filings etc get squished in, then every so often the floor is scraped up, melted down and the metals recovered

I'm having another stab at my wardrobe today, sorting through scarves that I've long kept but not worn. In the washing machine now before going in the CS bag. Added a couple of pairs of shoes, both bought, funnily enough, because 'look, they come in a 9!!!' and I've hardly worn one pair and never worn the other. I guess thats one of those occasions where you say 'thank you' to the shoes for giving me that thrill when I saw them in the shop that just because I have big feet, doesn't mean I have to wear ugly shoes

Also gone are a pair of red jeans from my MIL who seems to declutter her wardrobe to me, a dress that is too see through but too tight to wear a cami or something underneath and another dress that really doesn't suit. Feeling good!!

Just a quick question, I get 'Justin' and 'Andy' but 'Rowan' is confusing me...

We had a family friend who was jeweller many years ago and he used to work with a sheepskin on the floor. The fleece would catch any tiny amounts of gold, and then it would be burned and the metal reclaimed.

Good news on the job, tibawo - the thought of working five days a week again makes me shudder, but you sound very happy about it!

GQ, your comment about 'those oblong little trays that I thought would be handier than they are' really made me smile, I've got a couple of those. They would hold two mugs, but if I've only got two mugs to carry I wouldn't use a tray! They fit neatly on my kitchen windowsill, one holds three plant pots and the other holds a single plant, hand wash and the washing up liquid bottle. Thinking about it, they're not really necessary and tend to collect bits (odd screws and so on). Perhaps they could go.

Last edited by PollyWollyDoodle; 15-09-2017 at 7:33 AM.

"Inconceivable". "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

I've got two of those little oblong melamine trays. I repurposed them to the sitting room as coasters for DH's and my mug 'o' tea and biccy!
Put my roasting tins away - all in their drawer,held upright by the expanding racks from Iykeya - deep joy

Small victories - sometimes they are all you can hope for but sometimes they are all you need - be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle

I've got two of those little oblong melamine trays. I repurposed them to the sitting room as coasters for DH's and my mug 'o' tea and biccy!
Put my roasting tins away - all in their drawer,held upright by the expanding racks from Iykeya - deep joy

My company have been kondo-ing colleagues again, 12 in one location It's far-far away, and I have never been in touch with them personally, but it does signify big changes, and presumably other regional offices to follow. 'They' seem to be centralising again, having only satellite offices in the regions instead of fully-fledged offices.

It is worth the bother as any scrap gets held in the floor rather than on the soles of shoes, and with the price of precious metals like gold & platinum, it saves £s in waste. My ex-h used to work for one firm in Birmingham and my DH has done onsite work there (Not at the same time though! )

I once heard tell of someone buying a jeweller's carpet and burning it to get at the scraps of gold. This may be an urban legend, tho.

Pretty pleased with how the kitchen cupboards have turned out; I've lined the deep pan cupboard (a base unit) with a flattened-out white cardboard box, to protect the bottom of the cupboard from getting dinged up by my dragging heavy pans out of the back. An unexpected benefit is that it deadens sound somewhat, a useful extra in a thin-walled flat.

Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.John RuskinVeni, vidi, eradici(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)

A bin liner full of clothes and shoes, is by the front door, waiting to go to the recycling bin tomorrow.

When we move house, I'm going to try to not have a wardrobe, but keep all my clothes in my chest of drawers (2 big, 2 small drawers). I might need a plastic storage box for my "other season" stuff, but I'm not sure if that's cheating....

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

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